Goff and Campbell refuse to blame officials after Lions’ rally is negated by late flags

DETROIT (AP) — Jared Goff and Dan Campbell refused to blame the officials after the Detroit Lions were penalized two times in the final 22 seconds of a 29-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday — with each flag negating a go-ahead touchdown.

“That’s frustrating, but it shouldn’t have come to that,” Campbell said.

In a week of extraordinary finishes in the NFL — Seattle completed an improbable rally to beat the Los Angeles Rams in overtime on Thursday night, and Chicago did the same thing to Green Bay on Saturday — Detroit almost made it a trifecta.

If not for those flags.

First, Goff threw an apparent 1-yard TD pass to a wide-open Amon-Ra St. Brown with 22 seconds left. But there was a reason St. Brown was so open: rookie Isaac TeSlaa set a pick that freed up his teammate and was called for offensive pass interference.

“That’s a bad call,” Goff said.

Then came a wild last play that left the Ford Field crowd waiting for the officials to announce whether the Lions had won, lost or still had time to try again.

On fourth-and-goal from the 9, Goff rifled a pass to St. Brown just short of the goal line. The receiver shoved off Jalen Ramsey to break free, and then — while the Steelers swarmed — flipped a desperation lateral to Goff for what looked like a miracle, walk‑off touchdown.

Officials had already thrown the flag before Goff crossed the goal line. They huddled to discuss the play for what felt like forever, repeatedly moving Goff out of their way before announcing that St. Brown was guilty of offensive pass interference and the game was over.

“We weren’t able to close it out and at the end of the day, it’s on us,” Campbell said.

Referee Carl Cheffers explained afterward why there was a such long delay.

“It is a pretty complex play,” Cheffers said. “We had the original player who had the ball, lose possession of the ball. So, we had to decide if that was a fumble or a backwards pass because of course we have restrictions on the recovery of a fumble inside of two minutes.

“We ruled that it was a backward pass, so the recovering player was able to advance it and that recovering player advanced it for a touchdown. We had to rule on that and then because of the offensive pass interference, it negates the touchdown. Because it is an offensive foul, we do not extend the half. Therefore, there is no score and there is no replay of the down. That’s the way the rule is written.”

And with that, the Lions’ chances of an winning the NFC North plummeted to zero, with their playoff odds not much better.

“We know the percentages. We know we’re not eliminated. We know some things need to go our way,” Goff said. “I know who we are. I know who we can be. Certain games we haven’t fired on all cylinders.”

Goff knows the officials aren’t the reason the Lions find themselves in this situation.

“Those guys have a hard job,” he said, “and I don’t want to make any excuses.”

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